Reviewed by Roberta

TITLE: In the Absence of Monsters

SERIES: Monster Books

AUTHOR: JP Barnaby

PUBLISHER: Wilde City

LENGTH: 355 pages

BLURB: Jayden Carter knew the path he wanted his life to take. He wanted to get his Master’s Degree in History and teach. But when he answered an ad for a roommate and met mysterious doctor, Ethan Bryant, he’s brought into a world he never knew existed and his path changes.

It changes again for Jayden and he leaves Ethan with their friend, Lexi, in tow. Ethan loses himself in a haze of self-destruction and pain. With the help of a
childhood friend, Gabriel, Ethan battles the demons of his childhood and finds a way to survive. Gabriel and Jayden wage an epic war for Ethan, but in the end, they may all end up losing.

Originally published as The Forbidden Room and A House of Cards: Deconstructing Ethan

REVIEW: Wow, just wow!!

I couldn’t believe this book.  I was so ready for this book to come out and read it.  The blurb always caught my eye and I wanted to see what happened.

The book has 2 parts: Jayden and Ethan.  I actually really liked that it was that way.  It gave you such insight into each characters head.

So, Jayden…he’s this cute, hard-working lovable guy who’s staying with his sister’s place with her fiancée. He’s tired of staying with them and sees an ad for a roommate and he calls and gets an interview.  He gets the place and thus begins his epic adventure.

Ethan is this tortured character that just screams out for help.  You want to hug him and just take care of.  He’s been through so very much in his life and to read about him is just to fall more in love with him. He’s so full of insecurities that you just want to tell him that all will be ok.  That he’s going to be a better person for all of the hurt that he’s been through.  That he’s so very worthy.

The secondary characters are AMAZING!!  Lexi, is this great character that is so vital to both Jayden and Ethan.  She tells the truth of things to both of them and yet, she doesn’t really tell them what to do.  She sees the way the winds are blowing and she accepts her place in them.  Ethan’s Mom..Wow!!  She is just so amazing!!  How she spoke to him.  How she showed Ethan that he has always been so very important to her and his Father.  How she allows him to talk honestly to her. That she gave him wonderful advice and still allowed Ethan to make the choices that he needed to make.   Gabriel.  I liked Gabriel.  He was actually such a catalyst for Ethan and Jayden.  I liked how he was represented.

I will say that I was so very confused regarding Gabriel at the beginning of his section of Ethan’s story.  I was like, what the Hell?  But as I kept reading, I realized just who and what he was.  I found that I liked him.  He was so very vital to Ethan’s growth that I couldn’t be mad at having him in the story.

There was lots of sex in this story.  There was BDSM involved in most of it.  I just wanted to give the heads up regarding this, just in case you were wondering.  It was hot and sexy and it wasn’t used in a shocking manner.  It was used as just another part of the story to help you understand the characters and how they related to one another.

There was love, sex, angst and heartbreak in this story.  So much so, that I had to stop reading it a couple of times to just get my bearings and to be able to read on.

Read. This. Book.  You will find a bit of everything in this story.  It will take you on such an emotional journey that you’ll be so very glad that you did.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: Wilde City Amazon Are